Will GreenwaldSamsung UN50H6350AFSamsung's midrange UNH6350 LED HDTV series offers plenty of features and produces a very attractive, albeit not particularly dark, picture for a pretty steep list price.

Samsung's midrange UNH6350 LED HDTV series offers plenty of features and produces a very attractive, albeit not particularly dark, picture for a pretty steep list price.

Samsung's UNH6350 is an LED-backlit LCD HDTV series with a few quirks, but a picture that looks nicer than the numbers say it should, and a broad selection of online features and apps help make up for its flaws. The $1,199.99 55-inch UN55H6350 we tested is an attractive midrange HDTV choice, even if it doesn't quite meet the picture or feature value the less expensive Editors' Choice Vizio M551D-A2R presents, with its passive 3D and far better contrast ratio.

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Editors' Note: This review is based on tests performed on the Samsung UN55H6350AF, the 55-inch version of the series. Besides the screen-size difference, the $999.99 50-inch UN50H6350AF is identical in features, and while we didn't perform lab tests on this specific model, we expect similar performance.

DesignThe UN55H6350 is one of Samsung's more understated HDTVs. Besides a small, stylized lip on the bottom edge of the display, the front face consists entirely of a tiny, flat, glossy black bezel that measures just 0.3 inches on the top and sides and 0.4 inches on the bottom of the screen. A red indicator light sits on the lower-right corner of the screen's frame, and a small Samsung logo adorns the middle of the bottom bezel. The entire display rests on a silver-colored, four-legged base that lets the screen pivot left and right.

A four-way control joystick sits on the lower-right corner of the back of the panel. It functions as the power button, and with an on-screen guide, the joystick can change volume and inputs and make other adjustments, though you'd still be better served by using the included remote. Three HDMI ports, three USB ports, and the antenna/cable connection sit conveniently facing right. A fourth HDMI port, along with a component video input, coaxial and optical audio outputs, an Ethernet port, and an infrared blaster port face outward on the back panel. Four HDMI ports is an upgrade from previous Samsung midrange HDTVs, which only had three.

The remote is a 9-inch black wand with flat, rectangular, backlit buttons. Like most of Samsung's non-high-end, non-touchpad remotes, it feels a bit cluttered and awkward. Besides the raised Smart Hub button and the concave Volume Up/Down and Channel Up/Down rockers, almost all of the buttons feel very similar under the thumb. This is especially a pain for the direction buttons, which are not only similarly shaped, but are flanked by four other similarly shaped buttons that make it very difficult to navigate menus without looking at the remote.

Smart HubSamsung's Smart Hub serves as the gateway to the UN55H6350's many online services and apps, either through the HDTV's built-in Wi-Fi or through an Ethernet connection. The Smart Hub is split into five main panels: Games, Apps, Movies & TV Shows, Multimedia, and On TV.

Games and Apps hold the individual apps and services you can access through the Smart Hub. The usual suspects of streaming media and social network services are here, including Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The Apps panel also holds a Web browser, but like most HDTV Web browsers you'll have to wrestle with the clunky remote to browse anything. The Games panel holds predictably simple, casual titles with a strong emphasis on being kid-friendly, and don't really merit their own panel in the Smart Hub.

The Movies & TV Shows and Multimedia panels offer direct access to content without navigating individual apps and services. Movies & TV Shows displays highlighted, trending, and featured movies and shows, along with options for watching them on various media services. Multimedia displays popular YouTube and Vevo videos and TuneIn radio stations. More importantly, the Multimedia panel provides access to local and networked storage, letting you load media on a connected USB drive, a computer or hard drive on your network, or the Samsung Cloud online storage service.

On TV offers programming information and live television viewing when connected to your cable or satellite box. An infrared blaster controls the box, letting you change the channel and decide what to watch with the Smart Hub instead of the box's own menu system.

PerformanceWe measure HDTV performance using a Klein K-10A colorimeter, DisplayMate test patterns, and SpectraCal's CalMAN 5 software. After basic dark room calibration and setting the UN55H6350 to the warmest white balance preset, we measured a solid peak brightness of 231.65 cd/m2, but a disappointing 0.07 cd/m2 black level for a contrast ratio of 3,309:1. For comparison, the Vizio M551D-A2R reaches a 0.03 cd/m2 black level for a 7,145:1 contrast ratio, more than double that of the UN55H6350.

Color was generally accurate, but slightly oversaturated. The chart above shows measured color levels as dots and ideal color levels as squares. White was fairly close to ideal despite running slightly magenta, but red and green both leaned a bit far past where they should be.

The Amazing Spider-Man on Blu-ray looked excellent on the UN55H6350 in my tests. The dark alley fights showed plenty of shadow detail without appearing blown out, even if the blacks aren't quite as inky as they should be. The bright colors of Spidey's costume and the well-lit sets were vivid without appearing garish and flesh tones were accurate, though the picture seemed to run just slightly cool at times.

The cool colors were much more apparent in The Big Lebowski on Blu-ray. The bright reds and oranges of the bowling alley and The Dude's rug were vibrant, but more subtle tones like the cream color of the bowling alley's ceiling looked just slightly blue under the fluorescent lights. This isn't a significant issue and it doesn't affect flesh tones, and fortunately brighter and deeper warm colors stay prominent and well-balanced.

A powerful Eco Mode helps offset the UN55H6350's relative power hunger. Under normal viewing conditions, with energy saving modes turned off, the HDTV consumes a higher-than-average 133 watts. With Eco Mode set to Low, however, that number drops to 82 watts. Higher levels can drop that number further, but they darken the screen significantly. The Low setting dims the screen slightly, but it remains quite watchable. It's much less than the Vizio M551D-A2R's 93 watts, but curiously uses more than last year's Samsung UN55F6400AF, which used just 66 watts with the Eco mode set to Low.

The Samsung UN55H6350 is a good-looking, full-featured HDTV held back by mediocre black levels and an awkward remote. Despite its quirks, its general picture quality and feature set make it worth considering, even if it doesn't quite offer the value or the picture quality of Vizio's M551D-A2R.

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About the Author

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert... See Full Bio

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